Discovering Hampton Roads' forgotten war

By Mark St. John Erickson, merickson@dailypress.com | 757-247-4783

Defense of the Surveyor

Courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard

Outnumbered by as much as 3 to 1, the crew of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Surveyor defended their vessel valiantly in an inch-by-inch, hand-to-hand clash with sailors and marines from the HMS Narcissus. The battle took place June 12, 1813 off Gloucester Point on the York River.

Outnumbered by as much as 3 to 1, the crew of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Surveyor defended their vessel valiantly in an inch-by-inch, hand-to-hand clash with sailors and marines from the HMS Narcissus. The battle took place June 12, 1813 off Gloucester Point on the York River. (Courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard)

In a place that has been fought over for as long and as many times as Hampton Roads, you should probably expect a few stray raids or battles to fall off the radar.

But in more than two decades of exploring the history of the region, I've only seen one other conflict of real consequence so unaccountably forgotten as the War of 1812. And like Hampton Road's rich but too often neglected role in the Golden Age of Piracy -- what happened here when a powerful British fleet pushed through the mouth of the Chesapeake two centuries ago this year is so epic and engaging that it really deserves to be retold.

That's what we started to do back in February with a story describing the arrival of the immense Royal Navy force and the wild scramble of the local militia, regular army and navy to respond to an armada so powerful that the Chesapeake Bay may as well as been transformed into a British lake. And now -- beginning with a second story today and continuing with 5 more over the next couple of weeks -- we hope to at least partially recreate an often deadly struggle that ranged from the shores of the York River down through Hampton Roads and then far up the James.

Here's the link to the opening story that appeared Feb. 10 on our front page -- plus today's story on the storied battle of the US Revenue Cutter Surveyor with an attack force of boats from the HMS Narcissus.

Also linked here: A photo gallery of images from the War of 1812 in Hampton Roads. Keep coming back to it for updates as the series unfolds.